Purchase process experience

Ather vehicle reviews
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#1

Great product but a poor customer purchase experience.
Today I am a proud owner of 450X and would like to share my purchase experience.

  • It seems Ather is completely focussed on its product and misses to provide a similar customer experience that is complete.

  • The order booking process was seamless - I was awed, as it was well thought out & complete; everything online.

  • The sales team, instore, and the customer support on phone are well informed and professional.

My issue started after the booking was done. There was a change in delivery timelines - there was no intimation, I had to call to find it out. Had to constantly follow-up to kick start the registration process, did 3-4 calls to initiate the process. I had expressed interest to go for a special number and was willing to pay the extra but the vehicle got registered and the agent never called me, so I am stuck with a number. After registration, had to follow up for scheduling the delivery. All the while there is no intimation on the process to install the charging point at my place - for which I have paid. Now I have the bike and the installation engineer is not free till Monday, next!!! The worst was at the time of delivery - usually this must be the memorable moment - the vehicle was given in an ā€˜as isā€™ condition could have been cleaner! The delivery person was helpless about it.
I can go on & onā€¦
Bottom lineā€¦ great product will have a good market share when there is a good customer experience. I did not have one so far.
Hope the trend would reverse & I will have a good Ather riding experience!!!

Pradeep

8 Likes
My Ather 450X: S1 - Lukewarm at best
#2

Wow! Not cleaned even at delivery time? Ather is really dropping the ball on what is essentially the most important step in the entire process.

#3

@abhishek.balaji What a pathetic customer supportā€¦ Please improve the service

4 Likes
#4

Hey Pradeep, This is the process at Ather and hence the experience. All dealers are specifically and exclusively trained for non responsive and negligence and especially in these COVID times.

Delay are the routine and regular process for all customers, I booked in April and still awaiting delivery :wink:

#5

This is shocking. I have been asked to make a full payment of the Vehicle upfront and then wait for 20 days. I never made a payment for purchase of a vehicle before the Pre-Delivery Inspection. How would we know if they hand us over the Test Drive vehicle after a reset of Odo, or a Brand new from factory. I also wanted to speak to the person whose number was shared with me for any queries, but that seems to be switched off due to week end. Customer Support seems to be lacking glaringly. Now i am also sceptical to make a purchase of this vehicle. P.S. I assumed that they would be the best at support because they are new. Story is other way around i guess. I can foresee the charging point installation delays and late delivery after full payment already. Ather- I am still counting on you. Please donā€™t make me change my decision of not buying this fantastic machine. Cheers. :blush:

#6

Test drive vehicles have to be registered with RTO. Once registered with VIN, it wonā€™t get re-registered anywhere. You can be rest assured it will be a brand new vehicle as it would be a cumbersome and tedious job to make a test vehicle look as good as new.

Customer Care is still premature and it will take a while to settle down.

Delays are bound to happen with RTO as some of them are seeing EV for first time.

Please add a 10 day buffer (provided no further lockdown is announced) for delivery. Lockdown may push it by a couple of months too.

There is no issue in production so the delay from Atherā€™s side is minimal.

#7

Wait, other manufacturers let you do that? Iā€™ve bought ICE vehicles before but Iā€™ve prepaid for all of them.

#8

Yes Sir, when we are opting for a full payment. They bring the vehicle from stock. Have it fully Cleaned and ready for delivery, and then i inspected to my satisfaction. Thereafter, payment process was completed. I assumed the booking is being taken for that, that they book my vehicle, process the stock, get the vehicle, let me inspect (on arrival) complete the payment, then do the registration formalities in coming days. I think that can be a procedure. However, if the team is aiming towards excellence then they can do what @sbalaji.job has brought out. Which is totally aimed at giving assurance & satisfaction to customer. Great Thinking by the way. But, i did read in this forum itself that some did get faulty vehicles, some with scratches, etc. And as @sbalaji.job brought out, if the vehicle gets registered it will not get changed. May be thatā€™s why those customers came here on forum angry. It is not there mistake, that on the day of delivery itself they will see scooter in ā€œbadā€ state. It is absolutely unbearable. To avoid such instances Pre-Delivery Inspection concept was introduced in first place. If Ather team is perfect then they will be lauded for this procedure. But, its not happening that way on ground. Its a suggestion to Team Ather as Well, if they do this there reports can be better here related to "Delivery " niggles. There will be no niggles left actually.

Anyway Cheers to the Efforts Team Ather.

#9

Thank You So Much for your reply @sbalaji.job. Ather is new, and small issues are understandable. But, they are affecting ur sales on ground i suppose. Like i wanted to book the scooter tomorrow, but now i am wondering if to a potential buyer the response is like this, i would be in no good shape if something goes wrong with the vehicle. This is understandable if the number of addresses are humongous. But when the city is new, total sales are in 2 digits, a new customer should feel inviting. Although Experience Centre did there job. My point is, if you have made such fantastic machine, then addressing issues has to be that good. Small nibbles are understandable bigger problems keeps customer in rage, coz it is not a main stream scooter it is ā€œPremium Pricedā€. 1.7 L the moment i turn towards ICE i am looking at an Royal Enfield. Ohh Boy, you got a customer who is trying hard to be on Ather with RE calling in Background ! :joy: And then the pricing of your subscriptions simply make it as costly as the other vehicles. This is a deal which can turn other way wayy to easily. To be honest i am the example now, a small crazy behaviour of Customer Care or Showroom now, i will not think much and may say "Yaar tha to badhiya, par koi ni dikkate bhi kaafi thiā€¦ kaha se leke aata power socket bahar kahi. Koi aata agar kharaab hota to ya bolte yahi leke aao . Kyuki road side assistance ka plan nahi liya. Ya kuch kharaab ho jaata beech me to pata ni kitne din bina gaadi rehna padta. " Anyway, thats too much saying i guess. But hereā€™s how it affects me. So shared.

Cheers :beers:. :blush:

#10

Sir, I do not know where you have bought vehicles before but in all my vehicle purchases in Bangalore, TVS, Activa, etc. They started RTO registration process only after getting paid completely. I agree i got the vehicle the next day itself, but that was also after getting paid. The concept you are talking about is excellent and ideally should be adopted by sellers, but I personally have not seen it.

And coming to your point about customer service, I completely agree with you, they definitely should improve it, I understand during lockdown and all, but other times also Iā€™ve found it lacking. Hope they scale up.

Ultimately the choice of buying or not buying is with you. Cheers!

1 Like
#11

Even Iā€™m facing consistent after sales issues from Ather .Theyā€™re constantly giving excuse of lockdown, staff issue and Ather delivery team being autonomous , I have to wait for their delivery team to feel if they want to deliver. Never seen a startup company work like a state government organisation, with hardly any updates about my vehicle delivery booked on 12th April 2021.Every company staff are working from home to keep their service level updates to their customers, but Ather is conveniently on a holiday, citing Lockdown.

#12

No offense to anybody, but I fail to understand this statement - ā€œ Ather is conveniently on a holiday, citing Lockdown.ā€ Incase you havenā€™t gone through the guidelines, and want a company / any company to risk their life for delivering your vehicle without-

1 - RTO registration

2 - clarity from govt. on subsidy and help you to avail it

3 - make your delivery top notch with required staff

then shift as there are plenty of ICE, EVā€™s available in the market. Please compare the scale of any ICE 2W manufacturer vs. Ather. As @maniashwin3003 Feel free to choose!

I seriously find it strange. No further comments. I hope you enjoyed your holidays during the lockdown :slightly_smiling_face:

Regards, An owner who waited 1 year to get his 450x series 1

1 Like
#13

I agree. I mean yes, I know the excitement and everything after you order your scooter you want it immediately. But how can you expect something in a lockdown? You canā€™t compare with people who are breaking the rules and say do what theyā€™re doing! Why should ather? Why should they risk their staff and legal action to give delivery when it is clearly not allowed by the government?

1 Like
#14

I just got a call this morning from Ather asking me to sign the registration papers of my 450x. I think the only reason that the delivery is delayed is due to the lockdown and norms put sown by the government. I really donā€™t think it is Team Atherā€™s fault. As per my experience, the team is trying really hard to deliver the scooters. So good job Ather.

#15

Pathetic order completion!! Should maintain a systematic procedure and try getting a good rapo with coustomer in the case of delivery!! Disappointed for the delivery delay!